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Dateline: 1st June, 2008

Selective Quotes Banned

From 26th May it has been illegal to misquote from reviews to publicise a play. One of the aims of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, adopted in March 2005 and coming into force last Monday, is to prevent advertisers, including the producers of plays, from using misleading information in their ads.

According to the Departmnent for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform," the directive harmonises unfair trading laws in all EU Member States and introduces a general prohibition on traders not to treat consumers unfairly. This prohibition is intended to act as safety-net consumer protection legislation.

"In particular, the Directive will oblige businesses not to mislead consumers through acts or omissions; or subject them to aggressive commercial practices such as high pressure selling techniques. The Directive also provides additional protections for vulnerable consumers who are often the target of unscrupulous traders.

"The Directive’s wide scope – it applies to all business sectors – and flexible provisions means that it will plug gaps in existing EU and UK consumer protection legislation; and set standards against which new practices will automatically be judged."

The key test as to what is now illegal is whether the practice would unfairly distort the behaviour of the 'average' consumer: in other words, practices that impact on decisions such as whether or not to buy a product, and if so from whom. Included in this is misleading marketing, such as taking words or sentences from reviews out of their context so as to say something different to what the piece of writing actually says.

Thus, if a producer takes the words "the very best possible production of this play" from the sentence "this is very far from the very best possible production of this play" and uses them in advertising the production, then he is in breach of the directive and is liable a fine of to up to £5,000 or up to two years in prison.

Andy Millmore, head of advertising and marketing at solicitors Harbottle & Lewis, told the Evening Standard, "If comments are taken out of context and cause me to spend £30 on a theatre ticket against my better judgement, that is technically criminal."

Others are not convinced: Whatsonstage.com critic Michael Coveney describes the misleading quotations provisions as "bonkers".

Incidentally, one commercial practice which is in all circumstances considered unfair is "including in an advertisement a direct exhortation to children to buy advertised products or persuade their parents or other adults to buy advertised products for them."

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©Peter Lathan 2008